*nods*

Do you ever feel….alone?

My Holocaust teacher took us on a surprise field trip today. It’s a gorgeous day. We stood outside, waiting for the bus, talking and laughing.

…I was just standing there….

We got on the bus and headed into New Haven–

…who will sit with me?….right….the one who has no choices left….

–and stopped at this beautiful memorial that I never even knew existed.

I’m beautiful….when will you stop pretending that I don’t exist?

He asked us to reflect on how the Holocaust course had been as we walked around the garden, and to allow ourselves to think about what this place meant to us.

it was beautiful, truly beautiful.

I was walking around, stopping at each of the concentration camp stones to think about them.

so I was purposefully walking the opposite direction from everybody else, I was being different…

When I got to the one labelled “CHELMNO”, I stopped and looked around for a second. Then I selected a dandelion that was growing on its own, not one from a clump–

a flower that had to learn how to survive on its own…

–and I placed it on the stone. To remember those people, that I studied and read about.

to remind them that they are not, and will never be, forgotten

We ran out of time very quickly, and we had to head back to school.

…the last person to get onto the bus was the one who had to sit with me…

Anyways, I’m….moved. I mean, I can’t even imagine what hell those people must have gone through. Regardless, and for whatever reason, I really felt the pain so strongly, in the air, in that place.

…maybe some of it was my own…